[meteorite-list] Star of Bethlehem Was Two Brilliant Meteors Says Sir Patrick Moore

From: Mark Miconi <mam602_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 09:48:55 2004
Message-ID: <006301c13311$786aa480$04f20541_at_fwlr1.az.home.com>

Please check if this event occurred in April, NOT December. Regarless of
what the Bible says.
IF Mary and Joseph were travelling to Bethlehem for the census and to pay
their yearly taxes...it would have been in the spring, around
April...normally the taxation time under Roman Rule. This would have been a
journey of great peril for a woman in an advanced state of
pregnency...Remember...NO HMO's, NO real Doctors.
The Romans typically called for census taking and taxation in the spring
when new born lambs were plentiful and could be used to pay taxes.

The christians adopted December as Christs Birth month many centuries after
his birth. Too many Cristioans at the time would partake of the Pagan
Solstice Holiday...it made them uncomfortable that their followers crossed
religous lines.

Just my 2 cents....I am however very interested in what can be found
recorded happening in the skies in the spring of that time period. The
chinese were far more accurate in their record keeping and Matthews Gospel
was written a couple of centuries AFTER the DEATH of Jesus.

Thanks...Mark
----- Original Message -----
From: Matson, Robert <ROBERT.D.MATSON_at_saic.com>
To: <meteorite-list_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 11:32 AM
Subject: [meteorite-list] Star of Bethlehem Was Two Brilliant Meteors Says
Sir Patrick Moore


> Hi All,
>
> The "two brilliant meteors" theory of the Star of Bethlehem,
> while interesting, is not terribly compelling. And this part
> was certainly news to me:
>
> "For the star to have been noticed by the wise men, and not by everyone
> else,
> it must have appeared for a short time and have moved in a way quite
unlike
> that of any other star or planet."
>
> I was not aware that the magi were proven to be the only witnesses. I
> thought
> that it was generally accepted that the phenomenon observed (if not
> supernatural)
> was a bright nova or supernova, or possibly an extremely close planetary
> alignment between Venus & Jupiter. Perhaps someone on the list recalls
> the specifics (maybe an old article in Sky & Telescope?), but my
> recollection
> is that the Chinese recorded one or two sufficiently unusual events that
> occurred
> in the required timeframe.
>
> "While not proposing to have found the definite answer, Sir Patrick, 78,
> > believes his theory cannot be disproved."
> >
> While this may be true from a strict logic sense, I
> think the theory has sufficient problems that it can
> be disproven "beyond a reasonable doubt." The article
> gives one good reason why:
>
> "The study offers no explanation for the 'unmeteoritic behaviour' reported
> > in Matthew's gospel of the star stopping at the place where Jesus Christ
> > lay."
> >
> Sir Patrick's defense is awfully weak: "We will have to allow
> > Matthew a sufficient degree of poetic licence."
> >
> But I liked Mark Kidger's rebuttal even better:
> > "A bright meteor you see for one or two seconds and in exceptional cases
> > as
> > much as 10 seconds. It would have appeared and disappeared so quickly
> > the wise men would have had to have had jet propelled camels to have
> > followed it."
> >
> Now that's an image I'm going to have a tough time keeping
> out of my head today -- camels on afterburner! --Rob
>
> Check out the new Meteorite Central logo wear at
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/store/store.aspx?storeid=meteorites
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Received on Sat 01 Sep 2001 02:11:06 PM PDT